[ENG] The Gefionspringvandet (the fountain of Gefjon) is the most impressive sculpture in Copenhagen, even though it is less known internationally than the "Little Mermaid". The sculpture depicts an old Danish legend associated with the creation of the island Sjælland (Zealand), the island where the capital of Denmark is located. According to this legend, the god Odin was living in a small island (for some he was living in the island Fyn where the city Odense is today). One day he asked goddess Gefjon to find more land. The goddess went to the area where today is Sweden. There, king Gylfi, the oldest known Scandinavian king, promised to give to her as much land as she could plough in one night... She then went to Jötunheimr, the homeland of the giants. There she breaded four children with a giant, and transformed them into four strong oxen... All land that was ploughed that night was thrown in the sea between the island of Fyn and Sweden and Sjælland was created. The gap that was left in Sweden it was filled with water and became the Lake Vänern (Normally, the legend says that the lake was Mälaren, but the similarity of Vänern in shape and size to Sjælland has made many people to believe that Lake Vänern is actually the lake of legend). The fountain was sponsored by Carlsberg Foundation for the 50 years (1847-1897) of the establishment of the brewery... The construction, however, was completed in 1908, after many disagreements about what should be its subject... Designer of the fountain was Anders Bundgaard, who was also the sculptor of the figures (1897-99). The inauguration of the fountain was made on July 14, 1908. It was renovated in 1999. Later, it was out of commission for many years, and was re-inaugurated in September 2004.
[DAN] Gefionspringvandet, København.